This research proposal aims to explore the effectiveness of the mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) on reducing young children's screen time (ST) and caring parents' psychological and social issues in Hong Kong.
The research design was a two-arm waitlist, randomised controlled study with a focus group interview with 60 participants. The intervention integrates the mindfulness-based component into a modified Hands-on Parent Empowerment-20 (HOPE-20) programme, and is named as MORE (i.e. Mindfulness-based intervention On parent empowerment in REducing children's screen time). The intervention consists of 6 weeks of MBI training, each lasting for 2 hours, led by an experienced certified mindfulness teacher. The intervention programme consists of three components: (1) skill part - 4 lessons talk about parenting skills (Praising, token system, response cost, planned ignorance, quiet zone); (2) skill part - 2 lessons talk about child-parent communication (building relationship, communication strategies); and (3) mindfulness part - mindfulness-based training. The primary outcomes are young children's ST and children's disruptive behaviour. Feasibility outcomes include recruitment rate, retention rate, and acceptability of the interventions. Secondary outcomes include parent-child relationships, parents' perceptions of their abilities to manage the demands of parenting, parental stress level, and social support adequacy. The proposal also includes plans for focus group interviews with participants to gather qualitative data. Analyses will include descriptive statistics, Pearson's chi-square test, Pearson's product-moment correlations, One-way ANOVA. A p-value \< 0.05 will be taken as the level of statistical significant. The 95% Confidence interval (CI) around the differences will be calculated. For qualitative data, the results will be analyzed descriptively and narratively. The proposal highlights the potential of MBI for reducing young children's ST, as well as improving children-parent relationships, enhancing the efficacy and satisfaction level of the parents, and reducing the stress level of the parents.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
60
Participants will receive a 6-week MORE group training by integration of mindfulness-based component into a modified Hands-on Parent Empowerment-20 (HOPE-20) programme.
Screen time exposure - frequency
Children's screen time exposure including frequency will be record in terms of times per week
Time frame: Baseline, week 6, week 18
Screen time exposure - duration
Duration will be record in terms of minutes
Time frame: Baseline, week 6, week 18
Screen time exposure - nature and content
Screen time exposure, nature, and content require the parent to provide the types and names of the shows watched by their young children.
Time frame: Baseline, week 6, week 18
Screen time exposure - viewing behavior
The parents are required to provide the information on young children's viewing behavior, including singing, role play, discussing issues or discussing the films and shows by selecting from the questionnaire.
Time frame: Baseline, week 6, week 18
Change in parental stress level
The Parenting Stress Index - short form. It is a 36-item 5-point Likert scale with three 12-item subscales. Each item is scored from 1 to 5 (1 = "strongly disagree", 5 = "strongly agree"). The lowest score is 36, and the highest score is 180. Higher scores indicated higher parenting stress, and the cutoff point is \>90.
Time frame: Baseline, week 6, week 18
Change in social support adquency level
The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support Questionnaire is a 12-item questionnaire. Each item is scored from 1 to 7 (1 = "strongly disagree", 7 = "strongly agree"), the lowest score is 12 and the highest score is 84. A higher score defines higher social support from family, friends and significant others.
Time frame: Baseline, week 6, week 18
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Change in children disruptive behavior
The Eyberg Child Behaviour Inventory is a 36-item questionnaire that consists of two subscales: the intensity scale and the problem scale. The intensity scale assesses the common child behavior problems frequency from 1 to 7 (1 = "never", 7 = "always"), and the problem scale assesses the extent to which the parents find the troublesome behavior in "yes" or "no". The lowest score is 36, and the highest score is 252. Higher scores indicate more child behavior problems.
Time frame: Baseline, week 6, week 18
Change in parent-child relationships
The Parenting Sense of Competence Scale is a 6-point Likert scale with 15-item. Each item is scored from 1 to 6 (1 = "strongly disagree", 6 = "strongly agree"), the lowest score is 15, and the highest score is 90. A higher score represents a better parent-child relationship
Time frame: Baseline, week 6, week 18